Changing Developmental Trajectories Through Early Treatment

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The major purpose of this study is to directly compare two parent intervention conditions for children diagnosed with autism spectrum disorders at 18 months of age to document the effectiveness.

Condition or disease

Intervention/treatment

Phase

Autism Spectrum Disorders

Behavioral: PII with IESBehavioral: IES

Not Applicable

Detailed Description:

Previous research has suggested that earlier intervention may contribute to better outcomes in autism. Answering the question "how early?" has significant health and educational implications for age of screening for autism spectrum disorders (ASD) and age of entry into early intervention for children with ASD. With the increased number of young children identified with ASD, there is a pressing need for evidence-based, manualized intervention that is accessible to and implemented by parents within their natural environments. This collaborative project is directed by Dr. Amy Wetherby at Florida State University and Dr. Nathan Call at Emory University to compare the effectiveness of parent implemented intervention for toddlers with autism spectrum disorders (ASD). The major objective is to directly compare two parent intervention conditions: 1) a parent-implemented intervention (PII) offered in a 2-3 weekly sessions to teach parents treatment strategies to support social communication skills within everyday routines, activities, and places for 25 hours a week; and 2) an information, education and support group (IES) offered twice monthly. Ninety-two children who 12 months of age and are at risk for developing an ASD because they have an older sibling who has an identified ASD will participate. Participants will be recruited from those children who are part of prerequisite studies on ASD in infancy that are also being conducted at Emory University. Families will be randomly assigned to either PII or IES at 12 months of age for a total of 9 months of intervention. The effectiveness of PII and IES will be examined with growth trajectories of social communication and autism symptoms and group outcomes on developmental level and adaptive behavior. The findings of this study will provide evidence of the effects of parent implemented intervention beginning at 12 months of age and substantiate that autism screening for toddlers is crucial for families to access early intervention.

The treatment condition that this group receives is PII with IES for 9 months.

Behavioral: PII with IES

This is an individualized parent-implemented intervention (PII) offered weekly to teach parents how to embed strategies to support social communication skills for 25 hours a week within everyday routines, activities, and places for 9 months. In addition parent will receive twice weekly the IES condition of the study.

Experimental: IES

The treatment condition that this group receives is IES for 9 months.

Behavioral: IES

Parents will receive information, education, and support. They once a week for 75 minutes.

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Layout table for eligibility information

Ages Eligible for Study:

9 Months to 24 Months (Child)

Sexes Eligible for Study:

All

Accepts Healthy Volunteers:

No

Criteria

Inclusion Criteria:

Participants will be recruited who have already completed Project 1 and Project 2 of the Emory Autism Center of Excellence project.

Participants will be the younger siblings of children with a diagnosed ASD

Positive screen on 2 of 3 measures of risk for an autism spectrum disorder before treatment 15 months of age or younger by the start of treatment

Normal hearing and adequate motor control to make simple actions (giving, reaching)

Families agree to twice monthly play group sessions for 9 months and 2-3 intervention sessions per week for 9 months (usually within work-day hours)

Families agree to monthly evaluations and videotaping of intervention sessions and weekly or monthly video check during the 18 months of treatment